EVANS GP SWEEPS THE STREETS OF BANGSAEN

The F4 South East Asia Championship became the first single seater series to race at the Bangsaen Grand Prix on the east coast of Thailand, and Evans GP drivers Seth Gilmore and Alex Sawer were able to grab a pair of victories for the team in a sensational couple of races that wowed the crowds and left them hungry for more in 2026.

Race one would see a rocket start for Seth Gilmore who swept ahead of polesitter Alex Sawer and local hero Ayrton Asdathorn, as the cars adjusted to the narrow street circuit layout. Asdathorn was also able to move ahead of Sawer with Rishon Rajeev and Inigo Anton giving chase for the BlackArts Racing team.

Having won all of the previous races in the F4 SEA campaign, Sawer was eager to steal back his lead and attacked Asdathorn with fierce determination. He finally made his move towards the end of the second lap, and set off after his team-mate. Incredibly his battle with his team-mate wouldn’t last long as his attempt to overtake saw him launch over the right rear of Gilmore’s car. The Evans GP would land in the barriers which would bring out the safety car, but fortunately despite the severity of the accident Sawer emerged unscathed. His run of victories however was finally over.

On the restart it transpired that the Star Performance driver Ayrton Asdathorn had infringed safety car procedure and sadly he would take a penalty after the race. But that didn’t stop him pushing to grab a victory on home soil, and when on the restart Seth Gilmore slid wide from the lead the Thai racer was ready to pounce and he bagged the lead with confidence and ease.

In the closing stages, the Star Performance bandwagon crumbled as first Worapong Aiemwichan skidded off the road into the barriers which brought out the safety car, and this in term bunched the field up once more. This meant that Asdathorn would cross the line first but his penalty would drop him to fourth position, allowing Seth Gilmore to clinch his first win ahead of Rajeev and Anton. Wang Zhongwei would make up his qualifying crash with a P5 finish ahead of Ben Nguyen and Thomas Yu Lee, who finished the race despite an early pitstop to repair damage.

Asdathorn finally broke Sawer’s pole position streak ahead of race two, and he led into turn one with Rishon Rajeev storming into second ahead of Sawer and Gilmore. Heading into the second lap though, Sawer demonstrated his resolve and moved into second position at the first corner and set off after Asdathorn up “Monkey Hill”. The Vietnamese driver then spent the next five minutes swarming around the tail of Asdathorn, and after a euphoric march forwards he grabbed the lead in a bold lunge.

Rajeev was now having a particularly tough time dealing with Gilmore in the battle for third position and despite the overnight rain the field were coping with the tough nature of the circuit and it’s bumpy treacherous surface with phenomenal skill. Gilmore would ramp up the pressure in the bid to grab another podium finish but despite some impressive bids Rajeev had the measure of his opponent, clearly his experience on the streets of Hyderabad and Chennai back home in India aiding him in his quest for silverware.

Sadly Gilmore’s efforts would be in vain as a spin in the closing stages thwarted him in his tracks and allowed Inigo Anton the chance to move ahead into P4. Elsewhere Ben Nguyen picked up some front wing damage which made control in the tighter apexes much harder to achieve, and he slid into the barriers with less than a minute to run in exactly the same place his team-mate Joshua Berry had done in practice which had damaged the Singaporean’s wrist and put him out of the weekend.

So the race would finish under safety car and Gilmore wouldn’t even make it to the line as the damage he’d sustained in the spin robbed him of a finish as his rear suspension had collapsed after the impact with the wall. So Sawer would clinch his 7th win of the year ahead of Asdathorn and Rajeev, with Anton ahead of Wang and Yu Lee, as Aiemwichan would make up for his retirement in race one by finishing ahead of his home crowd.

In two months time, the championship will reconvene in Malaysia as two more race weekends will take place at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur. The first of these events will be on the first weekend in September where Alex Sawer can clinch the championship if he outscores his team-mate Gilmore by just 18 points.